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Mott The Hoople and Ian Hunter

Mott The Hoople/David Bowie unofficial CD: "Legendary Lost Tapes"

Sleeve and track listing

(No catalogue number available). (1.5 stars!)

[Current sleeve]

The above is from a Spanish (?) issue of the original CD.

  1. All The Young Dudes
  2. It's Alright
  3. Henry And The H-Bomb
  4. Sweet Jane
  5. Shakin' All Over
  6. Please Don't Touch
  7. So Sad
  8. Hang On To Yourself
  9. Ziggy Stardust
  10. Changes
  11. Supermen
  12. Five Years
  13. Life On Mars
  14. John I'm Only Dancing
  15. Moonage Daydream
  16. Suffragette City
  17. Width Of A Circle
  18. Rock 'n' Roll Suicide

Tracks 1-7 are Mott The Hoople

Tracks 8-18 are David Bowie recorded at Green's Playhouse, Glasgow, 5th January 1973

Review

This one is really a unofficial David Bowie release rather than Mott The Hoople, as is evidenced by the DB concert that takes up the second half of the CD. Given that the tapes obviously exist (otherwise how could the CD exist?) I don't know what is supposed to be "lost" about the Mott tracks, but there you go. The people behind this are also under the impression that DB is on all the Mott The Hoople tracks listed. Well, he ain't.

ATYD is the guide vocal version, and so features DB, but that's about it. It's Alright (also known as The First Third) was a demo from the Dudes sessions, but is dark and moody - so much so this reviewer thought it to be a Mad Shadows outtake until the sessionography in the Mott Biography finally set the record straight. Henry And The H-Bomb was also demoed at the Dudes sessions, and was released commercially a few years ago on the Ballad Of Mott: A Retrospective set (in, I might add, much better sound quality). Sweet Jane is next, and is the Lou Reed guide vocal version. Shakin' All Over, Please Don't Touch and So Sad all feature Stan Tippins (not Ian, and definitely not DB!); all are to be found on the Anthology and again in much better sound quality.

The disc is completed by a DB concert; this is an audience recording and average to poor as audience recordings of that era go. To summarise: a desirability factor of zero. For completists only.